Significant changes and features of the 2015 Plan:

Downpayment Plus^® (DPP^®) Homeownership Set-Aside

• The maximum grant to eligible households is $6,000.
• The member limit is $420,000 on a first-come, first-served basis.

Competitive AHP

• There will be one online competitive application round with an application deadline of 5:00 p.m. Central Time on Friday, June 26, 2015. To be eligible, all applications must be in “Member Approved” status by this deadline. AHP Online, the FHLBC’s online project management system, will open for applications on Monday, April 27, 2015.
• The maximum subsidy award per project remains at $850,000.
• The FHLBC will continue to limit the amount of subsidy a member may apply for to a maximum of 25% of the subsidy announced. The limit will be calculated based on the order in which applications are in “Member Approved” status in AHP Online.
• Non-AHP sources must be ≥25% of the total development cost.
• Changes to Project Feasibility Guidelines include:

• Increased operating expense-per-unit guidelines.
• Development cost-per-unit guidelines will be published prior to the opening of the 2015 competitive application round.

• Changes to the Scoring Guidelines include:

• Housing for Homeless: The definition of “homelessness” has been revised to reflect the four broad categories of homelessness identified in most federal programs.
• Special Needs: This remains a five-point scoring category but has changed from variable to fixed. The threshold for scoring five points has been reduced from 50% of the units meeting the criteria to 20% of the units.
• Member Financial Participation: Sponsor-driven owner-occupied projects are only eligible for points associated with short-term financing.
• Subsidy Per Unit: This remains a 10-variable-point scoring category; however, the incremental sliding scale has changed. Rental projects requesting ≤$15,000/unit and owner-occupied projects requesting ≤$6,000/unit will receive the maximum number of points in this category.
• Community Stability: This remains a 23-variable-point scoring category but the allocation of points has changed slightly. Additionally:
  • Walk Score^® has been eliminated as a scoring opportunity.
  • Rehabilitation of Single-Family Housing has been increased from five to six points, and Elimination of Blighting Influences has been increased from three to four points.
  • The scoring threshold requirement for Rehabilitation of Single-Family Housing and Targeted Areas has been lowered.
  • Targeted Areas is now defined as only those census tracts where the median income equals or exceeds the median income for the county or metropolitan area (i.e., ”mixed-income locations”).